Shopping for racing seats? Here are some I considered

I am slowly re-doing my interior in my 996 (A little slower than expected due to recent home purchase, and related priorities). It was a nasty gray interior when I bought it with pretty worn seats. I always had the opinion that cheaper looking interiors (our 996's) had that cheapness magnified when colored gray. Black, which in my opinion looks much richer, and hides that cheap look a little more. I already swapped everything out in my interior to be black, including the carpet. Still sitting on ugly worn out gray seats, that are obviously standing out until I can reason dropping a few thousand on seats. During this time I've been spending many hours researching, digging through threads, reviews etc. I think I've finally made a deciscion, and I'll talk about all the seats I considered along the way. What I'm looking for in my seats: Fixed Back, not crazy expensive (OEM GT3), and have a clean look. After shopping around I found the Rottec Carbon seats, and looked at the SRS and the SGT3 fixed back seats for rediculously low prices. from $1,100-$1,300 without any options added (price goes up for alcantara cushions, carbon, kevlar shell etc) for both seats INCLUDING mounting hardware and sliders I was already thinking too good to be true. After reading many reviews, I saw some people to be very happy with the seats, and in pictures they do look to be of very good quality for replicas. Some negatives I read was some issues with the shell breaking apart (on a reclining seat), use of fake leather, and obviously a major hit of not being FIA certified. Now, I will admit the whole FIA certification thing I take with a little grain of salt. I beleive the shell of the seat as long as it was constructed well isn't that big of a difference between replicas and OEM, and many manufacturers. What the main difference seems to be is quality of stitching, materials used, and the brackets/ sliders being flimsy. I have read of similar cracks, and breaks in FIA certified shells... and some manufacturers have styles of seats that are FIA certified as one size, but their larger version of that seat is not FIA certified. Sounds like it'd likely be the same quality but just hasn't been tested completely. I actually considered these seats longer than I should have, because as much as I would have trusted these seats with different mounting hardware (Their sliders/ mounts have been rediculed as being terrible) racing committes do think otherwise and require that FIA sticker. This was the nail in the coffin for these seats, as part of my project is to slowly prepare my 996 to be more than just an autocross/ daily driver, but in a few years be a dual duty track car. Buying a new set of seats when that time came made no sense, so that FIA sticker is a requirement. Next seat I'll talk about is the Recaro Pole Position. Back in my E46 M3 days, I used to drool over these seats, and their OEM equivalent in the M3 CSL. They are obviously a very good looking, very popular, FIA certified seat. They also carry a very well known name, and reputation. What I couldn't get my head around was how much they costed. Pricing these out, I'd be spending $2,200 for just the seats in vinyl with alcantara cushions added. Mounting hardware and sliders required would bring me a lot closer to $3,000. Multiple times I've had these seats in my cart about to pull the trigger... but ended up talking myself out of it. It seemed like a lot of $ to pay for a FRP bucket (that some complained of having too much flex) and very little "upgrades". It seemed like I was paying more for the popularity than the actual quality of the seat. Finally, I did some reading on on Status racing. I found some talk about how they aren't the same caliber as Sparco or Recaro. That they don't have FIA certification, and are a waste of money. The more I looked into them, the more I found this to be false. They do in fact have FIA certification on some styles (This is the company that has the certification on their standard sizes, but larger sized seats do not) I am assuming that they are the same quality seats as before, just never had them tested for FIA certification which I'm sure is a pricey and lengthly process. The company makes seats and hardware out of Washington State, so they aren't knock off's made somewhere random in Asia. Looking at their "Ring" seat in Micro-Suede I think I may have found a winner. Good looks, check. FIA certified, Check. Fixed back, Check. Price? in micro-suede rather than standard cloth, with brackets, and a slider for the drivers seat came to just over $2,100. A big difference in price to the Pole Positions in a package that looks just as good to me, and seems to be just as functional. The Status seats also have a much more aggressive thigh bolster that look to be great on a track. Long story short, after considering many seats (some not listed here) I finally choose to go with the Status Racing Ring seat. I think it will go nicely with an Agency Power roll bar/ harness bar painted Speed Yellow. A new set of Schroth profi III 6 point harnesses, and the rest of my interior. I apologize if this post is a little hard to follow, it's 5AM here and I've been at work since 5PM I'll have to proof read it later.

Can you test sit in each one? Whatever's most comfortable is best!

I have the ring seats in CF also. Comfy but too snug if you are 34"+ waist 996_6.jpg

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Yeah I'm a 32" waist on a bad day... I like my seats snug. What's your experience with the seats? How do you like them?

They have amazing hold and drove down and back the Pacific Coast Highway without any discomfort. You have to learn how to push yourself out of the seat when exiting but I would think that is the same for any racing style seat.

Status seats are amazing, but you need to have the hips of a 12 year old boy to fit in most of them.

^^hahaha, Status seats are WAAAY too small for me, but thats beside the point. I recommend sitting in any seats you're considering.

Why not wait for a pair of used OEM Porsche bucket seats to pop up for sale? They usually go for $2200 - $2700 (complete with OEM sliders). When I was shopping for seats I considered all of the seats that you're looking at. I had pole positions in another car and found them super comfy, so I crossed out the others. I'd rather go with oem hardware and FIA cert........ I was lucky when I found a set of OEM porsche buckets for sale locally.

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The FIA sticker is only good for 5 years. Buying used, especially at a premium like that (I believe OEM GT3 seats are rediculously overpriced) does not make sense for what I'll need them for eventually, being able to pass tech at a track.

I paid up for the GT3 seats and I love them. The Recaros pictured above are nearly identical (after all, they make the GT3 seats for Porsche) -- if I did it again, I'd probably go w/ the Recaros. FYI, I'm a big guy (40" waist, wide shoulders) ... they "fit" me pretty well around town, and are incredible when I'm fully strapped in on the track.

+1 for factory GT3 seats. I have both sets (8 way luxury and GT3) and I've never considered putting the luxury seat back in. The GT3 seats are great year round and at the track. My daughter demands the luxury passenger seat, but that's another story. Fortunately, the leather matches since they're both factory covered, so I have one of each most of the time.